


Nobody

by Serene_Pastel



Category: Kingdom Hearts, Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types
Genre: Cherry being not at all subtle, F/M, Gen, Kingdom Hearts AU, Sassy Wiggly, Temporary Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-22
Updated: 2019-09-22
Packaged: 2020-10-26 05:15:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,552
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20736800
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Serene_Pastel/pseuds/Serene_Pastel
Summary: Three Greasers from an Island. A reformed Nobody. A puffball. A slime. Truly the group meant to save every world.





	Nobody

**Author's Note:**

> If I could draw, this would've been a short comic. I can't draw, so here's this.  
I apologize for my poor anagrams. No idea how to pronounce half the Nobodies' names.  
I picked and chose what parts of the main series character arcs to incorporate for each character. So there won't be exact connections between the Destiny Trio and the Virbank Slodges, but there are general ones.

“Rosie, get down!” Buddy shouts, tackling her to the ground as a large gust of wind blows past them. Nearby, Muk keeps a grip on Wigglytuff, keeping the knight from flying away.

“I’m going to rearrange her face when we get up there,” Rosie growls as she stands and drags Buddy to the nearby pillars. When all four are safely hidden behind the stones, Rosie looks through a gap. “How are we going to get her away from my ship?”

“Don’t you mean our ship?” Wigglytuff says as she adjusts her shield. 

“Yeah yeah.” Rosie waves her hand, brushing off Wigglytuff’s words. “How do we get that nosebleed away?”

Buddy looks through a gap between the pillars. The blonde Nobody, Axark, is still standing close to the Gummi ship. A small cyclone swirls around the gauntlet on her left arm. She doesn’t seem to want to get any closer to the group, even though she saw exactly where they hid. She seems just fine waiting them out, preventing them from getting to their ship. 

Apparently their luck just doesn’t want to turn around. They four have barely caught their breath before a Nobody stumbles out of a swirl of shadows. She clutches her arms around her body and her skin is pale and coated in sweat. She brings a hand to her mouth and Buddy thinks he can see her pull a thorny twig and leaves from her lips. The Nobody looks up, like she’s only just now seeing the party and Axark, and composes herself into her usual easy confidence.

“Wow.” Her voice is hoarse and it sounds like she can’t catch her breath. “You really made her flip her wig. How did you make Axark that mad?”

“Herrcyx,” Buddy says, summoning his soft pink, blue, and white keyblade and pointing it at the Nobody. He holds it loosely in his hand, unable to bring himself to be completely aggressive against Herrcyx when she’s in this state.

“The one and only, darling,” she says. Her cocky smile never fades, even when two keyblades, a magic staff, and large metal shield are pointed in her face.

“What are you doing here?” Buddy groans, ready to cast graviga at a moment’s notice.

“Easy there, cutie.” Herrcyx pats his cheek with a gloved hand. “I can’t visit my favorite little heroes just to say hi?”

“We’d feel a lot better if you brought our friend to say hi as well,” Muk says. He pulls his witch’s hat back a bit so Herrcyx can get the full brunt of his glare.

“Oh yeah. That.” Herrcyx looks through the pillars with a bit of indifference. Buddy can’t help but notice a bit of a limp as she walks to the pillars. “Well, that would be a problem, since I don’t have him anymore.”

A gear covered keyblade slams into her ribs before Herrcyx can say another word. Rosie drops her foot onto Herrcyx’s chest and points her keyblade at the Nobody’s throat. “Explain. Now.”

Herrcyx hacks as the air is forced from her lungs. It takes a bit longer than Buddy would expect for her to compose herself. “Down girl.” Herrcyx’s voice is wheezy but her demeanor is collected as she raises her hands is calm surrender. “He just got away from me. I tried to keep him safe, but he just decided to jump into the frying pan himself.”

“He was perfectly safe with his friends,” Wigglytuff growls.

“Really? Could’ve fooled me. It was super easy kidnapping him.” Muk charges his staff with electricity, though Herrcyx doesn’t seem too fazed. “Hey, it’s better that I snagged him than one of the bosses.” Herrcyx turns her head toward Buddy. “So dreamboat, you never answered my question. What did you do?”

“Quit making fun of me,” Buddy says under his breath before continuing. “We took down some Organization members. That’s probably enough to get her mad enough to flip her lid.”

“She’s a Nobody,” Rosie says. “She doesn’t feel anything, like this one here.”

If Herrcyx is offended by that comment, she doesn’t show it. “Oh, yeah. You did take out Rixdugs and Brojnx. That would cut it.” She adjusts her head, looking out into the field where Axark is guarding the Gummi ship. “You need to get to your ride?”

Buddy nods and sighs. “Yeah, not that we know how to do that.”

“Say please.”

“What?” Buddy shares a look with his compatriots. “Please?”

Herrcyx sinks into the shadows, only to reappear next to Buddy. He nearly jumps out of his skin at her sudden appearance. Seconds later, he freezes in his tracks when she gives him a quick peck on the cheek. 

“Also, promise me that you’ll take down Covatrix,” Herrcyx whispers in his ear. “I know I’m not exactly your friend and I haven’t made up for anything I’ve done to you, but—.” She can’t continue as her body is wracked with closed-mouth hacking.

Buddy wraps his hand lightly around hers. Even through her glove, Herrcyx’s hand feels a bit too cold. “We’ll handle everything.”

When she pulls back, her usual grin doesn’t quite meet her eyes. “I’ll go distract her.” Herrcyx looks out at the field. “When you get to the ship, get on and get out. Go get your friend back.”

“What are you going to do?” Rosie asks.

Herrcyx doesn’t bother answering her, instead saying, “When I have Axark distracted, you all need to agitate the gravel. Got it?”

Once everyone nods, Herrcyx sinks back into the shadows. The four watch through the pillars as Herrcyx appears a few feet from Axark.

“She’s hurt,” Wigglytuff says. “Did something happen to her?”

Muk slowly shakes his head. “Not just that. Look closer.”

The four stare at closely at Herrcyx as she approaches Axark. It’s faint, but Buddy can see the black smoke that has become familiar at this point. Part of her jacket is torn, like something was forcibly stabbed through it and aggressively ripped out. Yet Herrcyx doesn’t seem to care. Instead, the two Nobodies start chatting as if there’s nothing wrong with the situation. Like one of his best friends wasn’t kidnapped. Like the Organization wasn’t falling one by one. None of the party can hear what the two are saying, but based on their mannerisms, Herrcyx seems to be trying to get Axark to calm down. Slowly, Herrcyx sticks her arms out, offering Axark a hug. She’s initially wary of the gesture, but after a moment, she accepts the embrace and sinks into Herrcyx’s arms. 

“That’s probably it,” Muk says, stashing away his magic staff.

“Let’s book it,” Wigglytuff demands.

She doesn’t need to tell the other three twice before they start sprinting toward the Gummi ship. It doesn’t take long for Axark to take notice of the odd group as they run across the open field. She starts turning to attack the group, but Herrcyx only tightens her grip.

“Herrcyx?” Axark shouts. “What are you doing? Get them!” Suddenly, the two Nobodies sink mid-shin into the earth. Concerned, Axark can’t bring herself to yell again, only asking “Herrcyx?”

Herrcyx bites her lip as she forces the ground to swallow them deeper and deeper. After getting over shock, Axark starts fighting back, cursing at Herrcyx and summoning the air from her lungs. Herrcyx coughs and heaves as her breath is stolen from her lungs, yet the ground continues to pull them under. Buddy doesn’t take his eyes off the two as he allows Rosie and the Unovan guards to enter the ship first. By the time Buddy runs onto the ship, the only remains of the two Nobodies are black smoke and burnt fragments.

If Buddy didn’t know any better, he would’ve said that Herrcyx looked scared before she entombed Axark and herself in the ground. But that’s impossible. They don’t have hearts. Nobodies can’t feel anything.

He lightly touches his cheek. Nobodies can’t feel anything.

***

Danny grumbles as he kicks a rock through the tunnels. Just because he just got his keyblade doesn’t mean that he’s too helpless to go on missions with the others. Sure, he’s gotten kidnapped once or twice. And yeah, he can’t use magic well. But he could really use the real world experience that Rosie and Buddy have. Instead, he’s stuck in Radiant Garden, doing training exercises given to him by a pink puffball and a pile of slime. 

“I’m going rearrange their faces if they had fun without me,” he grumbles. 

He kicks the rock with a little extra power, launching the pebble into the water flowing through the tunnel. He looks down and summons his keyblade with a sigh. Danny focuses on the water, hoping that will help him cast the spell. He stands there, staring at the water, learning how it moves, and holding out his keyblade until he feels silly. Despite Muk’s suggestion to learn magic by learning how the elements work, nothing Danny tries is working. Danny’s friends didn’t need to use that method, with magic coming naturally to Buddy and with Rosie just transforming her keyblade and ignoring magic altogether. But Muk insisted that everyone learns magic differently. It’s just frustrating that he just can’t seem to get it.

Danny lifts his head as a breeze blows past his hair. Usually he would ignore the air movement in the tunnels, but he can’t help but notice something being carried along the wind. Black smoke and fragments that look like burnt cloth fly further into tunnel system, quickly rounding the corner.

“Don’t do it, Danny,” he mumbles. “You’ve been kidnapped how many times over the past few months? You shouldn’t run into trouble without the others.” He stands in place for a few more seconds before he runs off. “Damn it.”

Danny sprints after the smoke, running deeper into the tunnel system. Graffiti passes in his peripheral vision. It doesn’t take long before he reaches a dead end. He carefully walks along the wall, standing on the little dry ground surrounding the pool of water that streams through the grate at the end of the hall. The smoke starts hovering around a spot in the water. Danny squints in the low light, trying to figure out if the smoke is getting more solid. He lightly taps the mass with his keyblade and feels a bit of resistance against the tip. After watching the smoke and fragments solidify for a few minutes, a familiar silhouette starts to take form. Danny starts and slips into the water at the sight of the black Organization jacket covering the body on the ground.

Danny tightens his grip on the blade and takes a few tentative steps toward the person. Yes, the Organization kidnapped him and tried to kill his best friends—not to mention himself—but he can’t in good conscience let someone lay face down in the water. Besides, he might not be able to do magic, but he can certainly clock someone on the head with his keyblade.

There were thirteen members of the Organization—he knows that. Though Danny didn’t get a chance to meet most of them. Even Buddy, Rosie, and the guards didn’t meet all of them as far as he knows, though they did describe the ones they had met to him. So while he can’t tell exactly which one is lying in front of him, he could probably make a pretty good guess. The body is too thin to be one of the bulkier men like Buxtrus. Shorter than someone like, Toxanion, but not short enough to be the little girl, Xertampe. He’s hoping that it’s one of the calmer members. That would be nice, but not really his luck. It’s probably the flamboyant one that nearly killed all of his friends, despite his goofiness.

The Nobody suddenly pushes themself up, their arms twitching as they cough up water. Their hood still covers their head, but their hair sticks out a bit from the sides. 

“What? I’m alive? How? Where am I?” The Nobody looks around, slowly. “I’m back here?”

“Are you okay?” Danny asks, not lowering his keyblade.

The Nobody lifts their head and looks at him. “You. You’re here. They got to you in time.” The Nobody slowly brings themself to their knees and pulls back their hood.

“Herrcyx?” Danny takes a step back from his kidnapper. 

Herrcyx tentatively raises her hand to her chest. Her eyes flick back and forth in complete confusion. “Sort of? I don’t know.”

“Buddy said you died. How are you here?”

“I’d clue you in if I knew.” She tries pushing herself up, but her legs buckle from under her and she collapses in the water.

Danny sends his keyblade away and grabs her arms. He stabilizes her as she stands up. She tries to break away from his grasp and walk out of the tunnels, but Danny keeps a firm grip on her. In her weakened state, she can’t get away from him so she begrudgingly accepts his help. She stumbles out of the tunnels with him, not speaking until the two reach the courtyard of Radiant Garden. 

“You don’t have to help me,” Herrcyx says when Danny finally lets her go.

“What do you mean? Of course I did.”

“If I were you, I would’ve left me in there alone. I would’ve found my way out.”

“Well, it’s a good thing I’m not you. I don’t think I could ever leave someone that looks like a drowned rat alone like that.”

Herrcyx eyes him and laughs a little. “Do you have some screws lose? I kidnapped you.”

Danny shrugs. “I’m not one to hold grudges, doll.” He sends her a small evil grin. “Though I am going to say that one day—maybe not today, maybe not even in the next few months—I will call you for a favor. Then we’ll be even.”

She starts laughing, her face softening for the first time since they started talking. “Wow, can’t believe someone as pure-hearted as you would extort me like this. The puffball isn’t a good influence on you, is she?”

“Wiggly is a rowdy one. Though I guess that means she fits in with us.”

Herrcyx pats Danny’s shoulder. “Well, give me a ring whenever you need that favor.” She takes a few steps away from him. “I need to go and figure out some things. See ya later alligator.”

“See ya, Herrcyx,” Danny says with a small wave.

She freezes in her tracks. “I don’t think that’s what you should call me anymore.”

“Well, what do you want to be called?”

With a pleased, tiny grin, she says, “My name is Cherry.”

***

It’s a few weeks before he sees Cherry again. He knows that he should let Buddy and Rosie know about her, but they’ve been so busy helping to protect the worlds and helping out the Radiant Garden professors. He probably should tell the guards as well, but Danny can’t imagine that Wiggly would react well to a Nobody—Somebody?— walking around unchecked.

When Danny sees Cherry again, it’s not in Radiant Garden. Muk convinced Rosie to drop him off in Sinnoh while they went on a mission. He argued that Danny might be able to do magic if he practiced with some new scenery. Danny isn’t too sure about that teaching method, but he’s not going to argue about getting out of Radiant Garden every now and then.

When he runs into Cherry, she’s wandering around the shops in the middle of town. A bag of groceries bumps against her leg as she looks in the windows of the local shops. 

“Thinking about changing up your look?” Danny says. Cherry jumps at his sudden appearance, summoning her bat in her panic. Once Danny’s presence sinks into her mind, she visibly relaxes and casts her bat away. “I think you could use some new threads.”

“Surprisingly, people tend to flip their lid when they see my jacket.” Cherry puts her hand on her hip. “You lose your ride or something?”

“They went on a mission. How did you know I came hear with the others?”

“I saw you walking around earlier. The puffball, slime pile, and dreamboat stand out in a crowd.” Danny raises an eyebrow at the comment so Cherry mimes a pompadour.

The two talk for a little while outside the store before Danny pulls open the door and leads them both inside. They walk through the aisles, looking at clothes for Cherry. Whenever she sees something she likes, she tosses it over her arm. Occasionally, she takes a swing at Danny for making fun of her fashion choices.

“Are you allergic to wearing color? Everything you snagged is black!”

“I have jeans! Those aren’t black.”

“Fine. You got me. Everything you snagged is black or very very dark blue.” 

Cherry rolls her eyes and goes to the dressing room. “Oh, cut the gas you jerk.”

Danny keeps walking around the store, avoiding the awkwardness of waiting for Cherry to change. He sorts through various articles of clothing that would add some color to her wardrobe. His hopes rise a bit every time he finds something colorful in her size, but he almost immediately sets the clothes down. She has a new chance at life. Does he really have any say in what she should be wearing? It’s not until he reaches the accessories that he finds the perfect gift.

When Cherry walks out of the dressing room, tank top and jeans hanging over her cloaked arm, Danny walks up to her. He leans over her head and carefully ties the bandana in her hair. 

“There we go,” Danny says with a smile. “A little color.”

Cherry rolls her eyes and gathers the clothes she wants to buy, which she commandeers Danny into carrying. In return, Cherry buys some snacks for the two of them while he waits for his friends to pick him up.

“So I haven’t seen you at Radiant Garden recently,” Danny says as he throws a chip into his mouth.

“I need some space from there,” Cherry admits. “Can’t say I have a lot of good memories there lately.”

Danny winces. “Yeah, you did get the royal shaft for a while.”

“Not that you had it any better, no thanks to me.”

Danny shrugs. He genuinely doesn’t care about getting kidnapped. Or at least Cherry’s specific attempt. At least she probably wasn’t planning on offing him.

“Well, if you ever want to talk, I’m ready to lend an ear. I’m certain my slodges will do the same when they get to know you.”

Cherry laughs a little and shakes her head, like she can’t imagine that the four would be able to stay in the same room without attacking her. She doesn’t say anything about Danny’s friends, instead offering “Same to you. If you need anything, give me a ring.”

“I might take you up on that,” Danny says, suddenly recalling something that Wigglytuff told him. Cherry stares at Danny in confusion until he asks “You can do magic, right? Really strong magic?” Cherry nods, still a bit hesitant. “Can you teach me?”

“Uh, I don’t think keyblade magic and my magic are all that similar. I guess I could do the same thing that my bosses did and wail on you until something happens?”

“It can’t be worse than what I’ve been doing.”

Cherry pinches the bridge of her nose. “Let me get this straight. You want me to throw rocks at you until you use magic? That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard. When do you want to start?”

***

After giving one last wave to Wallace, Rosie breaches the surface of the water as the door to the Gummi ship lowers. Muk raises the staff and transforms himself from his rainbow-colored squid form. He slides up the ramp to give the others room to climb up as he transforms them. Once out of her puffer fish shape, Wigglytuff walks up the ramp and grabs a towel as soon as she can. Buddy adjusts his jaw as Muk’s spell returns his shark teeth to his normal omnivorous set and the light stripes fade from his skin. Rosie pushes up onto the ramp as her jellyfish bell shifts back into legs.

“Next time we come to Hoenn, I’m waiting in the ship,” Rosie says as she walks into the corner of the ship to change into dry clothes. 

“Same here,” Wigglytuff says while rubbing the towel all over her body, making her even more puffed up than normal. 

Rosie summons her keyblade and leans it against the back wall. Once it’s stabilized, she hangs her wet vest on it. Choosing to ignore Muk and Wigglytuff’s judgmental stares, she makes her way to the control deck and starts up the ship. Buddy rolls up the sleeves of his dry shirt and looks through the shells that Professor Cypress requested, making sure that they retrieved everything before Rosie gets too far away from the world. Once he flashes a thumbs up, Rosie kicks the ship into full speed toward Radiant Garden.

“Thank you for this,” Cypress says, taking the materials that the four gathered and passing them to Sylvatica when they return. “I hope it wasn’t too much trouble for you all.”

“It was a piece of cake, prof,” Buddy says. Rosie snorts as she runs through the ship’s diagnostics with Pancham. Buddy ignores her derision as he speaks to Cypress. “Do you know where Danny is? We’re going to catch a late lunch and want to see if he’s eaten.”

Cypress makes a noise of confusion, which catches Rosie’s attention. She turns to the two in time to hear Cypress say, “He said that you were going to drop him off in Twilight Town before you got to Hoenn. Didn’t he go with you?”

Buddy’s eyebrows raise slightly above his sunglasses but he recovers and relaxes his face pretty quickly. Rosie laughs and shakes her head like she’s mocking herself. “Wow, we really weren’t on the stick with this one. Could you maybe not mention this to Danny later? We’ll never live it down.” Cypress laughs and agrees to keep the information between them. Rosie turns to Buddy with a lighthearted smile and says, “Come on, let’s go pick him up before he gets worried.”

As soon as the two turn around, their smiles fall. They walk back up the ramp with an urgency that Wigglytuff and Muk can see from across the room. The two follow up the ramp, grabbing her shield and clutching his hat respectively. They each drop into their unofficial seats and start prepping the ship for liftoff. 

“Do you remember dropping off Danny?” Muk asks once Buddy tells him and Wiggly what’s going on.

“I don’t, but I swallowed a lot of salt water today,” Rosie says as she steers the ship out of the skies of Radiant Garden. “I can’t trust my mind.”

“Do you think he was taken again?” Buddy asks, pulling up the ship’s maps.

“If he was kidnapped,” Wigglytuff says, “he wouldn’t have known where they were taking him. And he definitely wouldn’t come up with a lie to the professors.”

“But how did he get to Twilight Town?” Muk asks. “We had the Gummi ship and he can’t teleport. There’s no way he could’ve left alone.”

As Buddy comforts the two guards, Rosie racks her brain for places were Danny could be in Twilight Town. She steers the ship around meteors, enemy ships, and other debris as they approach the world. She carefully lands in the forest outside of town, trying to keep the ship out of the general public’s sight. Once all four of them get off the ramp, Buddy and Wigglytuff immediately walk to the abandoned manor, arguing that everything weird that happens in Twilight Town happens there. Unable to argue with that logic, Muk and Rosie follow.

Rosie feels the tremors before anything. The earth shakes under her feet as she walks up the path to the manor. Buddy’s face scrunches up in confusion and he breaks out in a run up the slight hill.

“Come on!” A low, somewhat familiar voice shouts. “Is that all you got?”

Rosie’s heart stops when she hears Danny’s enraged yell. She quickly follows Buddy, summoning her keyblade and thinking about what weapon she wants to transform it into.

“What’s going on?” Wigglytuff whispers. “She’s dead. Buddy said she was dead.”

“She was dead. I saw her.” Buddy looks completely aghast at the sight before him. Not that Rosie can blame him. She’s certain that none of them expected to see Herrcyx, cloaked in her black robes and wielding her ornate bat. Stalagmites shoot from the ground and boulders fly through the air as her friend dodges best he can. Danny looks bruised and exhausted, getting sloppier every passing moment. 

It only takes a few seconds after a rock scratches Danny’s face for Muk to launch a spell at Herrcyx. Rosie thinks that she should feel guilty at the sight of the Nobody’s body seizing up as a result of the surprise thundaga, but after everything she put her group through, Rosie can’t feel much sympathy. Buddy sweeps her legs from under her, knocking Herrcyx to the ground and giving Wigglytuff the opening necessary to wail on Herrcyx with her shield. Rosie transforms her keyblade and starts taking aim with her crossbow.

“What are you doing?” Danny screams.

“Uh,” Rosie glances at Buddy, who shrugs in mutual confusion, “saving your bacon?”

Danny sighs and leans on his keyblade. “My bacon is perfectly fine. Thank you.” Danny adjusts his head to look around Wigglytuff. “You okay down there?”

“I’m fine, though my pride is a bit bruised,” Herrcyx says with a lazy wave of her hand. She pushes up to her elbows and shoots Buddy a look. “You know, when a girl asks you to sweep her off her feet, this isn’t what she means.”

Buddy calls away his keyblade and walks away, done with the situation. Danny takes his place and pulls Herrcyx up. “I’m not even going to ask, but I really want to.”

“Oh we have history,” Herrcyx says with a toss of her hair.

“I can see that.”

“Woah woah woah,” Wigglytuff yells, cutting in between the two and inflating slightly. “Since when are you chummy with Herrcyx? You know, the weirdo that kidnapped you?”

“Cherry,” Danny says with a cross of his arms. “It’s Cherry.”

“I don’t care what fruit she bribed you with, you need to stay away from her! She’s dangerous!”

“Cherry hasn’t done anything to me. And trust me, I’ve given her plenty of reasons to flip her wig.”

Rosie raises an eyebrow. “Danny, she was just throwing rocks at you.”

“Because I asked her to!” Rosie immediately decides that she isn’t going to touch that with a ten-foot poll. 

Muk slides up to Danny. “Dan, you can’t be friends with a Nobody. They don’t feel anything. It’s just impossible. She’s probably just using you.”

“She’s not! Just talk to her for a second and you’ll see.” Danny turns back to Herrcyx (or Cherry? Rosie will need to get used to that), only to immediately slump over. Cupping his hands to his mouth, he shouts “Did you just teleport just so you didn’t have to walk ten feet?”

“Yup,” Cherry yells back as she enters the manor.

“Germ,” Danny says a little too fondly for Rosie’s liking.

“Buddy, can you say something to him,” Rosie says. Danny doesn’t know Herrcyx like they do. He needs to understand that she’s not safe to be around.

Buddy shakes his head in awe. “I still don’t understand how she’s alive. I’m a bit stuck on that.” Rosie shoots him the coldest glare she can. He withers under her gaze and walks up to Danny. “Fine. Danny, she kidnapped you. Do you really think that it’s a good idea to be friends with Herr—Cherry?”

“Rosie used to dump spiders down my shirt and I’m still friends with her.” 

“I don’t think that’s comparable,” Rosie says.

“You’re right,” Danny says in a tone that tells Rosie that she’s not going to like what he’s going to say. “When Cherry kidnapped me, that lasted a few days. You dumped spiders in my shirt for years!”

Rosie can feel the perfect retort forming on her tongue, but before she can get it out, a loud cackle breaks her focus. Looking beyond Danny, Rosie sees a now jacketless Cherry doubled over by the manor’s gate, busting a gut. Cherry struggles to catch her breath and waves her arm prevent herself from completely collapsing on the ground. Rosie can’t help but think it’s weird seeing Cherry’s bare arms. She’s never seen a Nobody without a black jacket.

Danny pouts at Cherry’s hysterics. “It’s not that funny.”

“S-sorry!” Cherry wipes her eyes. “I haven’t had a heart for so long. Everything just feels l-like a lot.”

Rosie thinks she catches a small smile on Buddy’s face at the sight of their former enemy’s laughter, though it fades pretty quickly. He walks up to Cherry and drops a hand on her shoulder. Her laughing peters out, transitioning into a more serious expression. 

“Look, you saved our lives,” Buddy says. “I don’t think we would’ve gotten Danny back if you didn’t sacrifice yourself out there.” Cherry smiles a little and starts to say something, but Buddy’s expression darkens and his grip on her tightens. “But if you light up the tilt sign and I find out you’re planning on hurting my slodges, well I can’t be responsible for Wigglytuff’s actions. Got it?”

Cherry raises an eyebrow and smiles. “Got it, sweetheart.”

“Good, glad we’re all clear.” Buddy nods and pats her shoulder. “Wow that’s firm.”

“I fight with a bat.” Cherry’s grin widens as she walks away from a flushed Buddy. “What did you expect?”

Rosie can’t help but feel like she’s the only reason this group hasn’t died yet.

***

“Is everyone okay?” Muk asks once everyone is loaded on the Gummi ship. He casts curaga on Buddy while Danny tosses Rosie a potion.

“I think so,” Wigglytuff says. “What happened to those three? I thought the Somebodies were on our side, like Cherry and the three at the lab.”

Danny shakes his head. “Remember what Cedar told us when those two were recovering from their Mark of Master exam? The Organization was meant to act as vessels. Did you catch their eyes? They looked like Noxre’s and Covatrix’s, or whatever their real names are.”

Muk sinks to the ground. “So we were too late to protect them?”

Wigglytuff pats his goopy head. “Those Vikings are strong. I don’t think we could’ve done anything else to help them.”

Muk leans on her side. “It’s just like the two at the Coliseum. They’re just going to get stronger.”

The thought strikes Buddy like a lighting bolt. “We need to get to Twilight Town. Now!”

The ship jerks—sending everyone without a seatbelt every which way—as Rosie loses control from the sudden start. She stabilizes the ship quickly before turning to glare at Buddy. “What could be so important that it’s worth giving me a heart attack over?”

“They’re going after the old Organization members?” Buddy doesn’t need to say any more before the situation clicks in Rosie’s brain. She pulls up the maps and turns the ship toward Twilight Town.

Rosie barely gets the ship landed before the party starts running down the ramp. The five run, slide, and float toward the formerly abandoned manor. In the end, it’s Buddy who arrives first and starts slamming his fist into the door. Cherry opens the door with a glazed expression. Buddy honestly can’t tell if she’s possessed too or if she just woke up.

“Cherry, I need to see your eyes,” Buddy demands, a bit more loudly than he intends.

Cherry raises an eyebrow in confusion, but still finds it in her to laugh at him. “Wow, getting a bit fresh there. At least buy me dinner first if you want to gaze into my eyes.” She lightly chuckles under her breath, but she stops when she sees the desperation on Buddy’s face. She almost immediately opens her eyes as wide as she can. Buddy visibly relaxes when he sees that her irises are their usual shade.

“So what’s your tale nightingale?” Cherry asks, finally noticing the rest of the group.

“One of your old bosses is giving us trouble,” Wigglytuff says as Buddy takes Cherry’s hand and starts leading everyone to the ship.

“Which one? I had several.”

“The hot one?” Rosie offers.

“Great, narrowed it down from thirteen to twelve. Eleven assuming we aren’t counting myself. Can you be a bit more specific?”

***

Buddy carefully hangs his leather jacket on the coat rack. He dusts the spikes on the shoulders before walking away from his second skin. His stomach sinks a bit as he slips another black jacket over his body. He carefully tugs the zipper up to his chest and pulls on the black gloves.

“It needs to be completely zipped if you want to be safe,” Cherry says, leaning on the doorway. “Don’t want the darkness to corrupt my favorite bunch of fireflies.”

“I don’t know how you didn’t overheat in this.”

“Oh big talk Mr. Leather Jacket.” Cherry laughs and walks into the room. 

Buddy walks around, packing his supplies in his bag. He occasionally glances at Cherry, who’s standing by the wall like she doesn’t really know what to do with herself. While shoving a few potions in this bag, he says, “You know you could join us. We need more keyblade wielders.”

Cherry shakes her head. “Nah, that’s not for me. There needs to be a little bit of darkness in the world to balance out you three. I’ll stay on the wild side, thank you very much.”

“Ey, we’d be fixing a prophecy.” Buddy nudges her with his elbow. “That’s pretty wild in my opinion.”

“Tell you what. You get Venezio to teach me how to control gravity, and we have a deal.”

Buddy sighs and glares playfully. “You win this round, Cherry. But not the war.”

“I don’t get why you’re all so gung ho about me being a keyblade wielder.”

Buddy raises an eyebrow. “Because you’re our friend? Because you have a good heart?”

Cherry snorts derisively and shakes her head. “I definitely do not have a good heart. I’m all kinds of messed up.”

Buddy starts listing on his fingers. “Rosie was trapped in the Realm of Darkness for a few months. Danny’s been kidnapped like seven times. Someone used my fear of being alone against me to manipulate me and forced me to hurt my friends. We’re all messed up too.”

“Yeah, but that all happened while you guys were saving the worlds.” Cherry shifts from side to side on her feet. “I haven’t earned the right to call myself a good person.”

“Cherry, you sacrifi—.”

“I was barely holding myself together after what Covatrix did to me. I don’t think what I did was a big sacrifice.”

Buddy gently puts his hand on Cherry’s shoulder. “Well, if you ever change your mind, the offer is always open.”

He starts feeling uneasy when Cherry crosses her arms and gets a wide smirk on her face. His suspicions are confirmed when she says, “Oh? And what right do you have to promise that? Should the Keyblade Master be the one telling me this?”

“….Get bent, Cherry.”

“So,” Cherry says, ignoring Buddy’s comment, “you really think that there’s some keyblade wielder in the Realm of Darkness?”

“Rosie says there is. Apparently Morgana helped Rosie survive down there.” Buddy wrings his hands. 

“You sure you’re okay going there?” Cherry walks up and places her hand on his shoulder. “I’m used to this darkness stuff. I can go instead if you want.”

Buddy aggressively shakes his head. “No. She got stuck there before because of me. I’m not letting her deal with everything alone again.” He rests his chin on Cherry’s head. “It’s just—I need to do this.”

Cherry is frozen in place, completely unresponsive. Buddy pulls back and looks at her in concern. As soon as he does, she over compensates and nods her head so much she looks dizzy. When her head gets back in order, she stares at Buddy intently.

“Buddy, can I be a bit frank with you?”

“Uh, yes?” Buddy mentally curses at himself for how squeaky that sounded. After getting to know Cherry over the past few months, her comments have been getting under his skin less and less. He chalks the current flub up to proximity. Cherry has the advantage of invading his personal space, that’s it.

That’s exactly why he can feel his pulse all the way in his ears when she reaches to the sides of his face.

Cherry pulls her hands back, gently removing Buddy’s sunglasses from his face. “I don’t think your peepers are going to do you much good in the Realm of Darkness.”

“Oh, yeah. No. No they won’t.” Buddy laughs nervously as he pulls the zipper up as high as he can and throws the hood over his head. “Thanks for that.”

Cherry stares at Buddy, judging his look. He barely gets a chance to see Cherry’s devilish grin before she grabs the drawstrings of his hood and tugs them as hard as she can. Suddenly, his pomp is forced right in front of his face. Buddy spits out at much hair as he can as he struggles to readjust the hood. Cherry’s retreating cackles are the only thing filling his ears.

“Don’t let the Heartless off you!” Cherry chimes.

“Have fun at the castle where I supposedly met you!” Buddy responds, mimicking her tone.

“I’m still hurt that you don’t remember our first meeting.”

Buddy shakes out his now well-teased hair once he finally gets the hood off. “I’m certain I was ready to swoon in your arms when we met.”

Cherry winces and says, “It’s probably for the best that you don’t remember.” 

Buddy can’t completely hear what she mumbles next, but he thinks that he hears her say something about murder and decides to drop the subject. The two of them walk in silence to the Gummi ship. Danny loads supplies onto the ship as Rosie and Pancham fix up some weak spots in the armor. Muk is talking to the Radiant Garden professors and the three Somebodies that were formerly research subjects: Federico, Tempera, and Venezio. Buddy and Cherry stumble apart as Wigglytuff forces herself between the two. Cherry rolls her eyes and goes to help Danny.

“Why?” Buddy says.

“Someone needs to stay on guard around her.” Wigglytuff puffs up a bit. “And clearly you won’t.”

“Wiggly, I trust her. She’s trying to do better. I think she deserves a second chance.”

“I’ll give her a chance when she earns one. Name one thing that she’s done that proves that we can trust her.”

“Sacrifice her life so we could take down her allies?”

Wigglytuff shrugs like that doesn’t count and walks to the others. Danny pulls away from sharing a tight hug with Rosie. Danny walks up to Buddy and wraps him in a hug as well.

“Stay safe,” Danny says. “I don’t want anything happening to you two.”

“You too. Keep your eyes peeled for the new Organization.” Buddy pats Danny’s back with a smile. Danny nods and pulls back.

The guys turn to Rosie and Cherry. Though their farewell isn’t nearly as touching as Danny and Buddy’s, it’s no less emotional.

“Do not under any circumstances let Danny drive the ship.” Rosie holds the key in front of Cherry, shaking it to emphasize her point. “He’ll tell you he’s allowed. That’s a lie. If you value your life, keep him strapped down.” Cherry snorts and accepts the key. 

The former Nobodies walk up to Cherry and bid their farewells. Federico looks between Cherry and the other three. “Keep in mind Cherry. I will know what did if you one of them doesn’t come back.”

Cherry laughs awkwardly and doesn’t make eye contact. “Yeah. Sorry about that. Again.”

Federico opens his mouth to reassure her, but Venezio interrupts. “One of them? Cherry was the only one that came back from Castle Oblivion!”

Federico’s eyes widen in shock. “There were six of us there. Cherry, what did they make you do?”

"Oh look, I gotta go. See you later alligator.” Cherry flashes some finger guns and runs up ship’s ramp.

Rosie shakes her head in fond exasperation and walks to Buddy. “Ready to find us a keyblade master?”

Buddy would be lying is he said he didn’t feel a bit of trepidation when the shadowy gate opens up, but he immediately follows Rosie into the fray. 

***

“I feel bad for the two of them,” Muk says, settling down on a rock near the beach.

Rosie looks up from the reports she’s reading through and stares at her friends. Buddy and Wiggly look five seconds away from strangling Marco, the new keyblade wielder that Danny’s group found. Further down the beach, Danny looks like he wants to drop dead as he trains with Morgana. “Which ones?”

“Both.” Muk winces as Buddy holds back Wiggly, who’s threatening Marco with her shield.

Rosie snorts and returns her attention to the reports. She needs to figure out a plan so they can know where to go from here. They still need more keyblade wielders for the prophecy to be fulfilled, but Rosie couldn’t even begin to guess where to find another capable person. 

A person walking past Muk and Rosie’s rock catches their attention. They look up and see Cherry walking barefoot across the path and eating something. Muk waves her over and scoots to the left so she can join them on the rock.

After plopping down the rock, she lies down in a patch of warm sunshine and sighs. “I can’t believe you guys wanted to leave this place. It’s so much better than my side of Radiant Garden.”

Rosie nudges Cherry with her foot and smiles. “Maybe we should build you a little seaside cottage here. Then we can bug you whenever we want.”

“That’d be nice.” Cherry smiles contently as she takes another bite. “I’d love to live somewhere peaceful after all this mess.”

Rosie cocks her head when she notices the shape of the fruit. “Hey, Cherry? Did someone give you that?” She can’t resist adding, “Did Buddy?”

“No, why?” Cherry asks with her mouth full. She stops chewing her bite and looks ready to spit it out at any second. “Why? Is it poisonous? You have to tell me if it’s poisonous.”

Rosie shakes her head. “No, it’s safe to eat. Paopu fruit just have a certain connotation on the island.”

Muk toys with his hat and asks, “Is it sacred or something?” Cherry runs her empty hand over her face and groans at the possibility.

“No. It represents an unbreakable between two people. It’s commonly shared between people that care about each other so they can stay in each other’s lives forever.”

Cherry raises an eyebrow. “I pulled it from a tree. Am I married to a tree now?”

“Is it like a love confession or something?” Muk asks, ignoring Cherry.

“It can be, but it’s more like you’re saying that you care about someone more than the average person.”

“Not getting a yes or no about the tree thing.”

“So it’s like all types of love?” Muk asks. When Rosie nods, he smiles and says “That’s nice.”

Rosie and Muk jump once Cherry pushes herself into a sitting position, cups her hands around her mouth, and yells “Hey, Danny! Rosie says I’m married to a tree!”

Danny momentarily stops his training with Morgana on the beach. He looks to his left and yells back “I know Buddy is taller than you, but that’s not very nice to say.”

The three on the rock lean against each other, trying not to fall off as they crack up. Even Morgana covers her mouth with her hand. From the rock Rosie can’t see Buddy’s expression, which is something she will regret for some time.

Wigglytuff joins in the banter, yelling “Didn’t you die because of a tree?”

“Don’t lump my arboreal husband in with Covatrix’s magic. Not all plants are evil! Geez Wigglytuff, such prejudice.”

Danny looks like he wants to continue, but Morgana snaps her fingers and brings his attention back to their lesson. Wigglytuff takes this cue and goes back to helping Buddy teach. 

Cherry turns back to Rosie and Muk, finishing off the last of the fruit. She chews thoughtfully for a minute. Once she swallows, she asks “Soooooo, hypothetically, if I were to ask someone out on the island, do I need to give them some fruit? If so, do I need to get another Paopu fruit or can I just get them a pineapple or something?”

“Oh ho ho, a pineapple.” Rosie raises her hand to her mouth in shock. “Cherry, you shady lady. I didn’t think you wanted that kind of relationship.”

“Wait what?”

“No judgment here, but it’s quite bold give someone a pineapple right off the bat. I respect that.”

Cherry squints her eyes and leans close to Rosie. “I honestly can’t tell if you’re being serious or not.” Cherry rolls her eyes and says, “Whatever, I’ll ask the fellas later.”

Rosie makes a quick mental note to get the boys in on lie before Cherry gets the chance to ask them. She returns to making notes on her map. Cherry leans over and starts asking about each of the worlds. Muk is happy to explain the general culture of each of the worlds they visited during their travels. Rosie occasionally makes side comments about the places they visited like “We turn into fish there,” “We joined a pirate crew there,” or “Buddy became a Heartless there.”

Cherry stops Rosie at that one. “He did what?”

“Oh he cut out his heart with his keyblade so he could get Danny’s heart out of his.” Rosie waves her hand dismissively. “I can’t remember everything. It was a stressful situation.”

“What did you do about his Nobody?” Muk and Rosie’s eyes widen and they look at each other in shock. “You did take out his Nobody right?”

“He didn’t have one,” Muk says with some hesitation.

“Every Heartless has a Nobody.” Cherry sighs. “Well, let’s just hope that he was just a husk.”

***

He was not just a husk.

Rosie screams into her hands as the group looks across the street fro the alleyway. Muk pats Buddy’s leg, trying to comfort him as he stares at his more primped doppelganger. Cherry had warned him about the possibility of him having a Nobody still running around a little while ago, but she also said that a fully formed one is incredibly rare. Not rare enough in his experience. 

Unfortunately, the yellow-eyed Nobody is loitering the Sinnoh street, preventing them from getting to the cathedral-like building where Cynthia lives. They sent Cherry to this world several times over the past few weeks, trying to get in contact with one of the Seven Hearts and hoping for some help finding more keyblade wielders. It took the group longer than they’d like to admit to remember that Cherry is the only one in the group who hasn’t met Cynthia and doesn’t know what she looks like. When Wigglytuff went to retrieve her during Cherry’s last solo trip, she found out that the only one of the Seven Hearts that Cherry has met is Danny. So they all decided to come with her and apparently hide in an alley until Buddy’s Nobody leaves.

“Cherry,” Danny whispers, “go distract him.”

“What?” Cherry hisses. 

“It’s Buddy’s Nobody. Use your wiles to distract him.”

“I don’t have any wiles.” 

“I don’t have any wiles,” Buddy mimics in a mocking tone. “Trust me, you’re plenty distracting.”

Cherry smiles for a moment, but it’s short lived. Buddy can’t help but feel a bit concerned about her. She’s been acting odd ever since Wigglytuff retrieved her a few weeks ago. Though, she had been acting a little odd before then, a little more unsure around him. But that wasn’t concerning him. Her quiet, sullen behavior? That worries Buddy.

Wigglytuff walks over to Cherry and sets her hand on her arm. That’s the weirdest new development in the group. Wigglytuff has been a bit warmer to Cherry recently. He really wonders what happened between the two, but they’ve been avoiding the topic like the plague. 

“Cherry, you don’t need to anything if you don’t want to,” Wigglytuff says. “But we would appreciate it if you feel up to it.”

Cherry looks out the alleyway with a pained expression. She bends down and whispers into something into Wiggly’s long ear. She listens to Cherry and nods, which seems to give Cherry a bit of comfort. 

“Oh this is embarrassing,” Cherry mumbles before turning to the rest of the group. “Okay, I’ll handle it. Go, find her. Don’t wait up for me, I’ll be back when I get back, alright?”

Cherry walks out of the alleyway before the others can ask what she’s doing. She rushes across the street and sneaks up behind the Nobody. At first Buddy assumes that she’s going to stealthily attack the Nobody, but she playfully taps his shoulder instead. The Nobody turns and a wide smile spreads over his face. He speaks to Cherry with a bit more animation then Buddy would expect from a Nobody. Cherry grabs his hand and the two walk out of the group’s sight.

“Let’s go,” Muk says, creeping forward. “We don’t know how long she’ll be able to keep him busy.”

The five of them run from the alleyway. They turn down the street and head toward the large building housing Cynthia. Buddy trails behind the group, pausing to look for Cherry. When he finally sees her in an alley across the street, he kind of wishes he didn’t look and trusted Cherry to handle things alone. At least then he wouldn’t be forced to see the two standing way too close together. Leaning way too close to each other.

A light tap on his leg pulls him away before he summons his keyblade and runs over there. Buddy looks down at Wigglytuff, who pulls on his jacket in an attempt to get him to follow the group.

“Come on,” Wiggly says. “You two need to talk, but later.” Buddy opens his mouth, but Wigglytuff immediately shushes him and drags him along. “Later. We have things to do.”

“But why is she okay with this? She’s a stranger to him!”

Wigglytuff sighs. “Cherry thought Muk had disguised you. She’s been running on that assumption for weeks before I told her Muk has to be nearby to keep up a transformation. You can make fun of her later for that. You can bet that I’ve been doing that. Now let’s go, lover boy!” Buddy wants to ask more questions, but when Wiggly grabs her shield and holds it menacingly in his direction, he decides to wait to talk to Cherry instead.

**Author's Note:**

> Fun fact: Original ending had Cherry get focused on the "joined a pirate crew" comment and sneaking off with Muk and Rosie to go do pirate things. 
> 
> I'd like to think Venezio would be the Demyx of this Organization.


End file.
